Detroit Architecture

address:
East Jefferson Avenue

data:
Year Built: 1976-1981
Architect:  John Portman & Associates

history:

Conceived by Henry Ford II and financed primarily by the Ford Motor Company, the Renaissance Center became the world's largest private development with an anticipated 1971 cost of $500 million. In part, civic leaders intended this ambitious urban renewal project to quell the white flight which followed social unrest from the 12th Street riot in 1967. The project was intended to revitalize the economy of Detroit. In 1970, Ford Motor Company Chairman Henry Ford II teamed up to form Detroit Renaissance, a private non-profit development organization, which he headed in order to stimulate building activity in areas of Detroit that had been severely impacted. The group announced the first phase of construction in 1971. In addition, Detroit Renaissance contributed to a variety of other projects within the downtown area in the ensuing decades. Henry Ford II sold the concept of the Ren-Cen to the City and community leaders. Detroit mayor Roman Gribbs touted the project as "a complete rebuilding from bridge to bridge," referring to the area between the Ambassador Bridge that connected Detroit to Windsor, Canada and the MacArthur Bridge, which connects the city with Belle Isle Park.

The "city within a city" began to rise. The first tower opened on July 1, 1976. In 1977, the central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center, which opened as a Westin Hotel, became the world's tallest all-hotel skyscraper, surpassing its architectural twin, the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta. When it opened, the cylindrical central tower was originally the flagship of the Westin Hotels. The top three floors of the hotel hosted an upscale restaurant, The Summit, that rotated to allow a 360 degree view.

In 1987 the elevated-rail mass transit Detroit People Mover, after many years of construction, began operation with a stop at the Renaissance Center. The forbidding concrete berms located in front of the building carried most of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment for the complex.

At first, the Ford Motor Company had occupied many offices in the building. In 1996, General Motors purchased the complex and moved its world headquarters to the Renaissance Center downtown from the New Center area. In 1996, GM initially paid $73 million to owner Highgate Hotels in Texas. By 2003, GM had completed an extensive $500 million renovation of the Renaissance Center in 2003, and included the work of many different architects including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago, SmithGroup of Detroit, Gensler Detroit office, and Ghafari Associates of Dearborn. This included a $100 million makeover for the hotel. Among GM's first actions was to remove the berms facing Jefferson Avenue. The renovation includes a lighted glass walkway called the "green ring" for its green lights; it circles the mezzanine to make the complex easy to navigate.

 

address:
500 Woodward Avenue

data:
Year Built: 1991 - 1993
Architect: John Burgee & Phillip Johnson
Style: Modern

history:
Formerly known as the One Detroit Center, the Comerica Tower was the last great skyscraper built in Detroit. While some have branded it postmodern, it is more appropriately identified as historicist with gothic inspired detailing and extensive use of granite.

Almost as if creating an entry portal for an enormous modern gothic church, a twin tower dubbed Two Detroit Center was proposed to be built directly east of the tower when the One Detroit Center was proposed, but a soft office market killed the plans, and Two Detroit Center was put on hold, indefinitely; a fate well known to the Fisher brothers. A parking deck now sits on the planned site.

address:
241 Madison Avenue

data:
Year Built: 1915
Architect: Albert Kahn
Style: Renaissance

history:
Albert Kahn was influenced by Rome's Palazzo Farnese and other Renaissance works he discovered during his 1912 tour of Italy when he designed this dignified structure for Detroit's auto elite.

links:
Official Site

Articles:
Detroit News Archive

719 Griswold

Year Built: 1910

Architect: Daniel Burnham

Style: Neo-Classical

Originally known as the Dime Savings Bank Building, this building was one of three remaining buildings designed by one the most celebrated architects at the time.

address:
535 Griswold

data:
Year Built: 1925
Architect: Wirt C. Rowland (Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls)
Style: Neo-Gothic

history:
The Buhl Building was Detroit's first skyscraper and was the first of many prominent buildings designed by Wirt Rowland during his tenure at Smith, Hinchman & Grylls.

The architectural sculpture on the building was designed by Corrado Parducci.

address:
500 Griswold Street

data:
Year Built: 1928 -1929
Architect: Wirt Rowland (Smith, Hinchman, & Grylls)

Style: Art Deco

history:
The Guardian Building, a National Historic Landmark, is a skyscraper in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Built in 1928 and finished in 1929, the building (originally called the Union Trust Building) is a bold example of Art Deco architecture, including some art moderne designs. Covering an entire city block, the main frame of the skyscraper rises 36 stories, capped by two asymmetric spires, one extending for four additional stories. The height of the building is 489 feet (149 m). The exterior blends brickwork with tile, limestone, and terra cotta. Nicknamed the "Cathedral of Finance," the building's interior is lavishly decorated with mosaic and Pewabic and Rookwood tile. Native American themes are common inside and outside the building. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and has undergone recent award-winning renovations. Wirt C. Rowland, of the Smith Hinchman & Grylls firm, was the building's architect while Corrado Parducci created the two sculptures flanking the Griswold Street entrance. During World War II, the Guardian Building served as headquarters for war time production; Detroit was called the "Arsenal of Democracy."

The building was purchased by Sterling Group in 2004. Under the Group's watch, the Guardian's office occupancy rate has nearly doubled, its promenade has been opened to the public for the first time in decades, and the building now has a doorman. Since this time the building has received exterior lighting accents at night and a new entrance canopy.

At the top of the Guardian Building's spire, is a huge American Flag, similar to the four smaller flags sitting atop nearby 150 West Jefferson.

links:
Official Website
National Register Entry